In his 150^th AFL match, West Coast Eagles’ midfield bull Elliot Yeo relished the challenge of going head-to-head with his Carlton equivalent Patrick Cripps.

They were together at the toss of the coin and while they did not spend 100 per cent of the game in each other’s company it was an enthralling battle of two of the of the competition’s midfield beasts.

Yeo had the better of the clash, particularly after quarter-time.

In concert with Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff, he stepped up his influence in the second term when the Blues were threatening to produce an upset.

At the 10-minute mark of that quarter, Carlton led by nine points before Shuey, Gaff and Yeo decided to take charge.

They turned that deficit into a 20-point half-time lead and they were never again seriously threatened.

Yeo had 25 possessions, 16 of them contested, while Cripps also accumulated 14 contested touches from his 24 disposals.

Yeo generated four centre clearances and took six marks in a strong performance that went a long way towards claiming an important victory.